Brett Battles: Last time we were here
it was to talk about your dive into the ebook world, and my first full year as
an independent author. Your first indie novel TRIAL JUNKIES had just been
released. So let's start with a catch up. You go first.

Rob Gregory Browne: Well, you probably
remember I was pretty nervous about the whole thing. I think the term I used
was scared shitless. Turns out, I didn't really have anything to be nervous
about. I did the KDP Select giveaway for three days, gave away 42,000 copies of
the book, and the bounce was pretty incredible.

Brett: How many did you end up selling
that first month?

Rob: I sold about 20,000 copies in the
first two weeks after the giveaway. After that, I stopped counting. The book
hit the Top 100 and became #1 in Legal Thrillers.

Brett: That's fantastic.

Rob: It was a very good year. But you
had a pretty good year, too, didn't you?

Brett: 2012 turned out even better than
I could have hoped. I put out four new titles, and sold just over 85,000 ebooks—that's
11 novels and 3 short stories. Even with experiments in price changes,
sales/giveaway, and the fact that I (still) charge only .99 for shorts, I
averaged over $2 a sale. Not only was it one of my most satisfying years
writing, but it was also my most successful from a financial standpoint. Which
was a nice change from 2011 when there was a month or two when I wasn't even
sure if I was going to make my rent.

Rob: I remember. I had to talk you off
the ledge a few times. But I know you don't regret the move anymore than I do.

Brett: Not at all. The key has been to
not sit still…keep putting out new books, and try new things, such as the
giveaways, playing with price, etc.

Rob: And, of course, for you and me to
write a book together.

Brett:
That, too.

Rob: We’ve been talking about writing a
series together for years, and it was nice not having to get permission from a
publisher to do it. We just said, hey, let's do this, and our new thriller POE
was born.

Brett: Exactly. Another great benefit
of being independent.

Rob: But I have to admit I felt some
trepidation. Although I was optimistic, I had no idea how well we'd work
together. Turns out, my fears were once again baseless. I seem to do that a
lot.

Brett: I never doubted it would turn
out fine. I saw it both as an opportunity to do something fun and new, and for
both of us to expand not only our virtual shelves but our fan bases.

Rob: My main stipulation, which I
expressed to you from the very beginning, was that we both check our egos at
the door. We had to be able to rewrite each other with impunity.

Brett: Right. That was key. That, and
the fact that you had this great concept you’d been kicking around for years
that we used and built on.

Rob: Thanks. And, of course, the next
trick was figuring out the logistics of working together. Since we live ninety
miles apart, sitting down next to each other was out of the question. So the
question was how would we proceed?

Brett:
Especially since we both always have other projects going. Finding a
coordinated hole in our schedules was becoming very difficult. I’m not quite
sure how we came to this solution, but one of us floated the idea of
alternating first drafts. Since we wanted this to be a series, we’d work
together on the outlines to make sure we were both on the same page plot wise,
then for the first book, I’d take a crack at a draft and you’d come in and do
the rewrite.

Rob:
Right. And when it’s time to do POE #2, I do the first draft and you do the rewrite.

Brett: And, of course, we’d discuss any
problems on the phone through every phase, something we did constantly
throughout POE.

Rob: I think it worked out pretty well.
I’m pretty happy with the result.

Brett: So am I. For those interested, here’s
the cover blurb for the first book:

After losing her mother to a terrorist
attack, Alexandra Poe was devastated when her father—disgraced and accused of
treason—disappeared from the face of the earth. Now, ten years and a stint in
Iraq later, Alex is approached by a man who has information about her father
and wants to help her find him.

But there's a catch. The man works for
Stonewell International, a security firm that specializes in fugitive
acquisition. And in return for their help, Alex must agree to run point on an
extremely dicey mission. One that will take her behind the walls of a brutal
and dangerous women's prison near the coast of the Black Sea.

When Alex finally agrees, she has no idea
what she's gotten herself into. She may find her father, but she could very
well lose her life.

As
I mentioned, one of our biggest hopes is that though we do share a partially
common fan base, this would also give us an opportunity to expand our
readership to those who are unique to each of us. And having fun while we were
at it.

Rob: We’ve seen what Joe and Blake, and
then Joe and Ann have done with their collaborations. These seemed to help them
a lot.

Brett: Yeah. A no brainer. The only
problem was finding the time. Took us over a year from when we first started
talking about it to actually putting words on the screen.

Rob: But we did.

Brett: Yep. Like I said before, it’s all about
experimentation, and, not only am I curious and excited to see how this goes,
I’m just as excited to get started on the next Poe.

Rob: As soon as we have time.

Brett:
Right. There is that.

Joe sez: I really enjoy collaborating, and have done it over a dozen times. Besides writing a story in half the time it would take to do it yourself, it also expands your virtual shelf space, potentially doubles your fanbase, and is a great opportunity to learn from a fellow author. Or, in my case, teach my fellow authors how to write better. Which they'd never say about me. Because they don't have blogs. But I digress...

Two (or more) writers working on a single project is fun. I was interested in learning how Battles and Browne did it because my method is different. After brainstorming, my co-writer and I will divvy up scenes, and then put them in a shared DropBox. For scenes or outlines we write together, we do them at the same time using either Google Docs or Join.me.

Each scene is numbered, and rewrites are saved under new numbers. For example: Chapter Seven 1.3 after the rewrite would be saved as Chapter Seven 1.4. That way, if one writer changes something the other needed (or liked) the previous draft still exists. It's also a signal to the co-writer that a new draft has been uploaded.

Google Docs has a chat box. I also use text chat in Skype if I need a quick answer to some story question from my co-author. The only thing better is actually being in the room with the collaborator, but that isn't always better, because there is usually beer around, and we usually drink it instead of write.

I get a lot of emails from people who ask how getting paid works with co-writing.

For the majority of my collaborative efforts, it's a 50/50 split. And, unfortunately, there is no easy way to do it. One person gets paid (I like direct deposit into my bank account) and then has to give the other person money (I like PayPal as a "Payment Owed" so there are no fees.)

This can quickly become a colossal pain in the ass, especially when the book is on multiple platforms. I'm in the process of having an assistant do this for me. She's the same one who put all of my spreadsheets into a single Excel database, which is how I know how many ebooks I've sold. Now that she's caught up, I'll just send her monthly spreadsheets, and she incorporates them and figures out who owes whom.

If you need help on this front, email me with the subject heading ASSISTANT and I'll put you in touch with her. She's a joy to work with, and her hourly rate is reasonable.

In some cases, I have a 75/25 royalty split. If two people create a character together, and one person wants to do a story with that character without the other, the other gets 25%. Part of that is simply a courtesy payment for using the IP. But it also includes a rewrite and polish, usually adding a few thousand words. So it breaks down to one person doing 75% of the work, one doing 25%.

Ann and I did this with the Chandler short novel EXPOSED (we brainstormed, she wrote the whole thing, I added and edited and polished), with her keeping 75%. She's also getting 75% for the Chandler short novel HIT (coming soon), and I'm getting 75% for the Chandler short novel NAUGHTY. For the Createspace paperback version, we're splitting costs and royalties 58% to 42% (do the math).

The savvy among you might notice I said "short novel" instead of "novella." Let me sidetrack for a moment.

In my experience, novels sell best. Short stories don't sell nearly as well. For whatever reason, people think a novella is a short story. Or maybe they don't know what it is. But when I put "short novel" in the description is sells better than "novella." Dunno why. But now I call anything over 15k words a short novel. I've also been known to simply call it a thriller, and then reveal the length in the description (both word count and approximate page count.)

Back on track, how do you find a co-writer?

I only write with my friends. That makes things easier, more fun, and helps limit the head-butting. We have the "no egos" rule that Rob and Brett have. We also allow each other carte blanche on edits and rewrites. I trust my co-writers to make my prose better, and they trust me the same way.

As for proofing, I hate it and suck at it, so somehow my collaborator usually gets stuck with that. In return, I do the promo, arrange for cover art and formatting, and do the jacket copy.

There is no quick and easy formula for successful collaboration, but one way to signal success is the seamlessness of the story. If the reader can't tell who wrote what, you've done a great job melding your styles.

A good example of this is DRACULAS, which I wrote with Blake, F. Paul Wilson, and Jeff somebody. At the end of it, we have an extra 80,000 words describing everything we did to write the book. If you're keen to know how collaboration works, that's a peek behind the curtain.

That's all I've got, unless any of my co-writers want to chime in...

Addendum: In the comments, several people wanted to know how this works on your taxes.

Blake formed an LLC, and he 1099s me every year. Blake is also a lot more responsible and efficient than I am. I deduct payments to others on my taxes, list them as independent contractors, and include their social security number when I file. My accountant is trying to make me to the 1099 thing, which I suppose I will.

What I've always wondered about with these collaborations is how you deal with Amazon sending the tax liability amount to just one author at the end of the year. (I assume that's what happens.) Does one author eat it? Do you try to "balance" the books across accounts so the number is "close enough"? Does each author claim their exact share and ignore the amounts shown by Amazon meaning your claim will not match what Amazon is telling the IRS? All these choices seem fraught with complications...

I'm half of a co-authoring duo and it's interesting to see how others co-write.

My co-author, Johnell Kelley, and I have been friends since Kindergarten and we share what we call a "book brain." Collaborating with someone I know so well isn't just easy, it's a lot of fun. We live 40 minutes away from each other so we meet in restaurants and bars, find a plug, order a pint and get to it. Most of the time we're productive, but there have been a few occasions when we have to do some serious editing the next day! We're determined to keep on writing and be successful enough to quit the day jobs. I'm in mortgages, anyone tried to get one lately? Total pain in the ass! Writing is way more fun.

As for splitting the profits, we just published our first two books last year so we don't have any yet, but when we do, they'll flow through our corporation. We not only read your blog, we read Kristine Kathryn Rusch. Both of you helped us make the decision to self-pub and have total confidence in doing so. Gracias!

When working with a collaborator, whether once or severally, doesn't it make sense to create the smallest of business entities, have that 'incorporation' collect monies, pay taxes, and then disburse the right proportions of the income to the writers 'it' hires to do the work?

Not sure how this would work exactly, or if the paperwork is worth it for a single novel, but I think I'd ask a lot of questions like this if the other methods are too complicated.

Not there yet, but I have often thought that a two-person team, selected to cover potential weaknesses, might write books more people would like.ABE

Congrats on the new release and the successful collaboration, Rob and Brett! Sounds like a winner!

I've only worked with other authors on one title, FIRE AND ICE from the DEAD MAN series created by Lee Goldberg and William Rabkin, and that was more of a work-for-hire than a collaboration.

I would like to try it sometime, but I have the same questions about tax issues as a previous commenter. It seems that one author would have to treat the other as an employee and issue a 1099. Or maybe an arrangement could be made through one of the author's agents. I don't know.

Cool. I've downloaded it and look forward to reading it. I've considered collaborating on a book as well (besides the ones I'm collaborating on with my oldest son), but haven't quite worked up to discussing it with my writing friends yet.

I have several books with Audible.com which is an Amazon company. They don't have any problem splitting royalties between author and narrator. I can't see why they wouldn't use the same system for co-writers.

Great info, and food for thought. I did a collaboration attempt once -- good friend, great writer -- but somehow she didn't get around to writing her sections, and I ended up waiting for her and finally taking over the process. I'd be open to trying it again. I think the main challenge is finding someone as good as you!

Whaaat? I post "Joe Konrath taught me to write better!" on my blog all the time. My readers are getting sick of the fawning. They keep saying "If we wanted to hear about how awesome Joe is, we'd read his blog and let him tell us himself!"

There are a number of tax benefits to being a 1099. You can deduct all business related expenses (paper, computer, phone, etc) and a portion of your utilities and mortgage based on the size of your office.

A good accountant can lay out the numbers.

I wonder if all those free downloads could count as a business expense, like they're give aways...

Joe, just a word about Draculas...I actually enjoyed the extras as much if not more than the book itself. I found it fascinating and very motivating to see how a project like that came together. I would encourage anyone interested in the writing process, or thinking about writing in general, to take a look. I would love if you'd add similar extras on some of your future collaborations.

I bought Robert's Trial Junkies. A great read. I can't believe he hasn't been published by a trad pub house.

My buddy Nick Stephenson (who sent me here) and I are just beginning to collaborate on a thriller I'd dreamed up last year. We're still in the process of deciding who gets what percentage and how the work will be divided, as well as things such as cover art, marketing, etc. Sounds to me as Brett and Robert divvied up the work on Poe much the same way in which Nick and I will, with each person "rewriting the other with impunity" and working from a common outline.

It won't always be easy since I live in Massachusetts and Nick lives in the UK, where they're 5 hours ahead of us. But for now, we're going to be doing this strictly by email and I'm trying to get him to find a way to download Skype on his computer.

And actually, I have been traditionally published. Eleven books under my own name and a couple of pen names. And I'm happy to say that I just got the reversion letter for my UK versions, so I'll be now able to offer my backlist worldwide.

Having been traditionally published and self/indie published, I can say without reservation that indie is better.

> It won't always be easy since I live in Massachusetts and Nick lives in the UK, where they're 5 hours ahead of us. But for now, we're going to be doing this strictly by email and I'm trying to get him to find a way to download Skype on his computer.